| Date |
Topic |
Activities |
Downloads |
| 1/5 |
Seasons: Describe Earth's position during summer and winter solstice and autumnal and vernal equinox. Explain why the Earth's seasons are associated with these positions. Relate aphelion and perihelion to this. |
Students complete study guides on the semester to date, then prior conceptions about the seasons are elicited. In small groups, students use laptops and navigate to http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/education/resources/interactives/seasons.shtml to view an accurate explanation of the seasons. Groups are asked to create vocabulary lists, plus aphelion, perihelion, solistices, and equinoxes. |
seasons.ppt |
| 1/6 |
Seasons: Describe Earth's position during summer and winter solstice and autumnal and vernal equinox. Explain why the Earth's seasons are associated with these positions. Relate aphelion and perihelion to this. |
Students are given globes and light sources, and are asked to model the Earth's orbit. Based upon the duration and angle of light hitting Massachusetts, they're asked to explain why this state experiences seasons the way that it does. Students are asked to write explanations that would make sense to younger students as to why two misconceptions are incorrect. |
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| 1/7 |
Seasons: Describe Earth's position during summer and winter solstice and autumnal and vernal equinox. Explain why the Earth's seasons are associated with these positions. Relate aphelion and perihelion to this. |
Students briefly discuss three factors that affect global climate and seasons: distance from the sun, orbit, and axis tilt. Also, five factors that determine an area's climate: altitude, latitude, topography, lakes/oceans, and winds. They break up into groups and use laptops to research these three factors for another planet in the solar system, generating hypotheses about what the climate and seasons of that planet might be like. Then they check their results. |
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| 1/8 |
No class |
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| 1/9 |
Magnetism: Describe magnetism on and around the Earth, and how it affects the Earth. |
Students watch online videos about magnetism and Earth's magnetic field. http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/13397-understanding-magnetism-all-about-magnetism-video.htm http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/11959-magnetism-the-earths-magnetic-field-video.htm |
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